need some assistance. my girlfriend and 8 year old daugher and her sister and 6 year old daughter are on the 7 day disney cruise to the western caribbean during easter week. Their return flight to New Orleans leaves Orlando airport at 8 pm so thus they have an entire day to fill up and were wondering about a trip to universal studios for that day. I have never cruised in/out of Orlando, I've been to Disneyworld but never Universal so she asked me to do some online research
-is this practical in light of the time constraints (i.e. what time would they clear the ship)
-how far is it from the port to universal studio's (i know it's about 1 1/2 hour ride from the port to the airport but have no idea how far it is from the airport to universal)
-cost of a one day pass to universal and can the pass be purchased in advance and are they still giving a military discount? ( I plan on going to their website but thought I ask in this forum)

My extensive travel instinct say they may be trying to bite off more than they can chew but I understand being in the airport for that long with those 2 will be challenging! )
Does someone have an alternate suggestion. Many thanks in advance

We did Universal Studios last year before our cruise and had a blast. However, the lines were long (some as much as 45 min to an hour) and depending on what time they get off the ship they may not have time to do much while they are there. Also, do they have a plan for their luggage? Last year when we flew out of Orlando we tried to check our luggage early so we could do something other than hang out at the airport and they wouldn't let us. Luckily our flight was earlier than 8 p.m.. They may want to try SeaWorld. I found you could do and see more in a shorter time frame.

I think you may be chewing off a bit more, but I tend to be conservative. Get off ship at 8:30ish and remember you need to be at airport early and I am not sure how far Universal is from MCO. You can purchase an express pass for more money to take advantage of shorter lines at Universal.

As a luggage issue if you fly one of the airlines Disney works with they will take your baggage from the pier to airport and check it for you at no additional cost. We flew US Airways and this was a great service. I believe there were about 4-5 other airlines there as well, but can not remember which ones were there. I was leary but it all ended up in Manchester NH at the same time we did. Very impressive. Just to help a little and not trying to rain on your plans.

I live close to the Port and I would say the drive from the Port area to Universal is around 45-1hr. It is only 67 miles from our home and we are south of the port by about 25-30 minutes. It's a straight shot, across 528, which goes into the port and also to the airport/universal. Getting from the park to airport would be no more than 1/2 hour if they left before rush hour. With all considered they may be able to get 5 hours or so in the park.

We live in Arkansas and went to florida last year on vacation. We decided to drive down so we left a day early. We arrived a day early also , we decided to go to Universal too (with nothing planned for that day) so we went and had an absolute ball. Although we didnt have near enough time to do everything. I actually liked it better than Disney ( being that i have been to Disney 4 times). I would really recomend that you have more time. You wont be satisified with just a few hours.
We are planning a Disney cruise (not sure of the dates yet). I read all of these reviews and it makes me wish we were leaving today........Have fun!!